


Rhythm

by rudbeckia



Series: Random Worlds [10]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Hux is an asshole, M/M, Ren is an asshole, SNoke is an asshole
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-02
Updated: 2017-08-02
Packaged: 2018-12-10 06:51:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11686329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rudbeckia/pseuds/rudbeckia
Summary: Hux has a perfectly ordered life until Leader Snoke insists he ferry his latest protegé around.Ren arrives. Hux hates him. It's mutual.Mostly.





	Rhythm

It had been so good.

Hux appreciated order in everything, but mostly in his own life. He was made for a military life and even if he hadn’t had the benefit of his father’s name and stormtrooper conditioning research to bring him to the attention of Grand Admiral Rae Sloane, he was sure he would still have made general. Eventually. His universe revolved at his direction. He followed orders that he was given from Leader Snoke, and in turn he gave orders to his colonels that were followed and passed down the ranks until every last petty officer, stormtrooper grunt and junior lieutenant knew their duty.

The _Finalizer_ marched smoothly to his rhythm. General Hux knew everything that was happening in his domain, and he knew that he could trust his colonels to make sure everything happened _exactly_ the way he desired. There was not a single thing that disturbed his command.

Until now.

“Leader Snoke,” Hux had petitioned calmly after the first five standard days, “This _Knight of Ren_ you have sent as a passenger is—“  
_“Not_ a passenger. General!” Snoke’s twisted image leaned closer and Hux clenched his fists by his sides, “Were my orders not clear? Kylo Ren is no mere passenger. You are to assist him in whichever manner he sees fit.”  
“But Leader—“ Hux stepped forward before he was cut off by a glare that left no uncertainty.  
“Enough!” Snoke sat back again. It was impossible to tell whether he was smiling or not, with his face so distorted by scars. “You will follow my orders. Dismissed.”  
It was not a question and Hux knew the interview was over.

When he turned, red-faced and seething, Kylo Ren stood by the door, helmet, cowl and robe disguising facial expression and body language. But Hux _knew_ he was laughing.

Another few days passed and Hux reached the end of his patience. Kylo Ren had to go. Leader Snoke had called Hux for a briefing about assisting a strip-mining operation to obtain kyber crystals faster and their business was over. Hux cleared his throat and paused rather than saluting and marching out as usual.  
“General,” asked Snoke, sounding bored. “Is there something else you think merits my attention?”  
“Yes. Supreme Leader, I require an increase in my repairs budget of at least seventy percent. Kylo Ren has destr—“  
“You bother me for _credits?”_ Snoke was definitely not smiling this time. “That is a matter for your immediate superior. I have far loftier concerns.”  
“YesbutHEhascausedSOMUCHdamagethat—“  
“THEN DEAL WITH HIM YOURSELF!” Snoke’s face glared down at Hux, and Hux felt a creeping sense of dread, a weight in his chest. He saluted, turned and fled in as sedate a manner as he could, almost bumping into Kylo Ren in the doorway.

Was it his imagination, or had Kylo Ren deliberately stepped into his path?

A few days later, Kylo Ren dared to march onto the bridge and tell the helmsman to change course.  
“Maintain original course!” snapped Hux, glaring at Ren. He walked past Ren, grabbing his arm on the way past and hissing, _”My office. Now.”_  
Ren shook him off, repeated his new coordinates and followed Hux off the bridge, along to his office and…

Straight past.

Hux, to his shame, punched his desk. He regretted that action for two reasons: his monumental loss of control and the dull throb in his knuckles.

“Kylo Ren!” Hux called after him once to no effect. He had not felt any evidence of the slight unreal feeling that usually accompanied a drop to sublight and inferred that his orders stood. Instead of returning to the bridge, Hux marched to the conference room equipped for meetings with Leader Snoke.

The door slid open and Hux stepped in expecting a wait for Snoke’s attention, but the room was already aglow with light from the holoprojector. Hux stopped, silent.  
“Supreme Leader,” Hux did not recognise the voice, low and pleading, but he recognised the hulking shape of Kylo Ren. “I beg you to allow me to take command of his mind, neutralise him with the Force. He thwarts my every move!”

 _How DARE he!_  
Hux’s mouth dropped open of its own accord and he had to slap his throbbing hand over it to prevent himself from yelling in fury.

“Supreme Leader, please!” Kylo Ren dropped to one knee. “This General Hux is _impossible_ to work with! He countermands my orders. He bothers me with pathetic complaints that amount to _petty housekeeping._ He has no respect for my—“  
“Kylo Ren! Get up.” Snoke’s grotesque face loomed closer to Ren, who stood with his head bowed. “You are a Knight of Ren. Are you telling me that you cannot reach a compromise? You cannot persuade a forceblind human to work with you? How do you ever expect to become _Master_ of the Knights of Ren, if you are so… limited?”

Hux clamped his hand tighter over his mouth. This was too good and he risked revealing his smug glee at Ren’s telling off. He slipped out of the room and hoped that his presence had not been detected.

Later, alone in his quarters, Hux recalled Ren’s waves of dark hair, pale skin and dark, pleading eyes, lips parted as, on his knees, Ren begged Snoke for Hux to be _neutralised._

Ren on his knees, begging Snoke for Hux...

Ren, on his knees, for Hux.

It was too delightful a mental image not to, well, _use._

 

It took until the next morning for Kylo Ren to react to his orders from Leader Snoke. Hux felt a lurking presence before Ren’s dark form huffed into the uncomfortable plastoid chair on the other side of his desk. Hux pretended not to notice until he had finished reviewing a report from maintenance regarding a wall in one of the officers’ accommodation decks with what appeared to be melted slash-marks. He looked up.  
“Ren. To what do I owe this _pleasure?”_

Hux sat forward with a cat-like grace and a matching cat-like sneer. Ren’s helmet emitted a low growl. Hux smiled.  
“If your apparatus is troubling you, please take it off. I am sure I can stand the sight of whatever disfigurement you are hiding.”

“I know,” said Ren, keeping the helmet on.

“Oh? Know _what?_ The price of fruit on Arkan—“  
Ren’s helmet came off with a hiss and he smirked.  
“I _know_ what you were thinking about as you drifted off to sleep last night alone in your bunk.”

Hux’s hand slammed the control on his desk that closed and locked the door. He leaned forward, on the edge of his seat, stomach churning.  
“And?” He demanded. _“I know_ that you begged Snoke to let you get rid of me and he told you to _play nice.”_ Hux sat back again slowly. Not slapping colour into the pallor of Ren’s cheek was an exercise in control.

Yet Ren still smirked.  
“I offer you a deal, _general,”_ said Ren. “It would be wise to listen and consider it. After all, do you _always_ obey your superior officers, one hundred percent?”  
“Of course I—“ Hux got halfway out of his seat in anger before the feeling of impending doom in his chest made him realise that Ren was issuing a threat; one he could probably carry out with ease and no regret. He sat down again, fists clenched under the desk until his fingernails caused a distracting pain. “I’m listening.”

“I propose this.” Ren affected a bored voice but he would not meet Hux’s gaze and his cheeks coloured of their own accord. “We share command of this star destroyer—“  
_“Super_ star destroyer!” interjected Hux before he could stop himself.  
_“Super_ star destroyer,” echoed Ren with a slight chuckle, “and, if we can work together perhaps I could see my way to… to…”

“To _what,_ Ren?” Hux scowled. “What do I get out of sharing command?”  
“Well,” replied Ren with a lascivious grin. “Turns out I _like_ stuck-up redheads.”


End file.
